Successful Affiliate Marketing: What Do Affiliates Want?

If you don't know what your affiliates want, you're not likely to stumble into giving it to them. Frank Fiore provides a detailed list of what your affiliate partners expect from your program, and why you should provide it.

This article is adapted from chapter 4 of Pay for Performance: Successful Affiliate Marketing for Merchants (Que, 2001).

From the author of

From the author of

As affiliate programs on the Net mature, merchants are becoming more selective
about the affiliates they choose. Likewise, potential affiliates are doing the
same. Companies with successful affiliate programs become successful because
they think like their affiliates. They plan their program from the affiliates'
point of view. As in most business endeavors, what separates the successful
companies from the ones that fail is focus on the customer. And in this case,
the company's affiliate is not only its business partner but, to a large
extent, its customer as well. When planning your program, it pays to think like
your affiliates.

And for good reason.

At first sight, building an affiliate network seems like an easy and inexpensive
way to market your e-business. But don't let the simplicity of the concept
fool you. First of all, the percentage of affiliates that sign up for your program
and then become active in your network is quite low. Forrester Research says
that the average affiliate program has about 10,000 affiliates. But only 10%
to 20% of the affiliate sites actually participate in the program—that
is, those that actually place your affiliate link on their site. And of those
active affiliates, only 20% of those are super-affiliates—those
that produce the majority of the revenue for your program.

So why the vast discrepancy between affiliates that sign up and those that
actually participate in a merchant's program? It could be chalked up to
laziness or general apathy about their web site. But these answers are too simple.
Maybe it's because the merchant's program doesn't give affiliates
what they want, and once they sit down to execute the program, they find out
that it's not all that it's cracked up to be.

Thinking like an affiliate, what program elements and level of service would
attract you?

What Affiliates Want

Being treated as a true business partner

Long-term relationship

Good commissions or revenue-generating potential

Access to the lifetime value of the customer, with lifetime
commissions

Restrictions on the number of affiliates in the program

Adequate communication with the merchant

Adequate training on the product or service

Good graphic and text links that sell

Adequate marketing support

Being part of a community with other affiliates

Good reporting and tracking program available for reports 24 hours a
day

Honest and credible program with a credible merchant

Good service for customers sent to the merchant

Clear and fair affiliate agreement with no hidden restrictions

Offers that are continuously updated and fresh

Wide selection of products to sell

Payments made on time

Let's take a more detailed look at what it takes to build a successful
and profitable affiliate program from the affiliate's point of view.